


Zuko, Grand Lotus

by isamagicdragon



Series: Abridged Tumblr AUs [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Abridged Tumblr AU, Alternate Universe, Fire Nation Royal Family, Gen, Ozai and Iroh roleswap AU, Zuko and Lu Ten roleswap AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:48:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24788773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/isamagicdragon/pseuds/isamagicdragon
Summary: Zuko is born the son of Crown Prince Ozai, and must follow his Father and his general into the Siege of Ba Sing Se.A continuation ofOzai, Dragon of the Westand a Lu Ten and Zuko roleswap AU.
Relationships: Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Iroh & Zuko (Avatar), Lu Ten & Zuko, Ozai & Zuko (Avatar), Ursa & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Abridged Tumblr AUs [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1788400
Comments: 63
Kudos: 313





	1. Chapter 1

**I**

Zuko is the second in line for the Dragon Throne. He is raised for greatness, but most of the time, he struggles to meet expectations. He doesn’t have his father’s natural genius for military tactics, nor does he have his uncle’s innate aptitude for firebending. But he does his best, and for a boy raised by a loving mother, an indulgent uncle, and a doting grandfather, it’s enough. Then his father comes home. 

**II**

Zuko wasn't supposed to hear the argument, but he did – his parents screaming at one another, poisonous words like _you slept with my brother_ and _you abandoned me, you abandoned the children._ He's old enough to understand the betrayal, but young enough to hope the damage can still be repaired, and that means it just hurts twice over when his father takes him away to the Earth Kingdom, with strict instructions not to communicate with their "traitor family" again.

**III**

If Captain Jee ever noticed Hawker Genji taking care of one hawk more than their company needed, or Private Kyo showing the Prince how to whittle wood into toy ostrich-horses and platypus-bears small enough to fit in a hawk's carrier, he never mentioned it to the Generals.

**IV**

When it comes to new recruits, General Ozai believed in trials by fire. His son was no exception. Zuko is immediately enlisted, and he is assigned to Captain Jee's company. He serves as a messenger boy at the start, but Zuko is loyal, determined, and hard-working, so it doesn't take long for him to earn the soldiers' respect and climb the ranks.

**V**

He beats his father's record – he becomes the army's youngest lieutenant at sixteen, and he distinguishes himself and his platoon of Imperial Firebenders as the strongest and most honorable in the army. General Ozai finally welcomes his son into the war council, and in the very first meeting that Zuko attends, his father unveils his plan to conquer Ba Sing Se.

**VI**

His father’s plan to conquer Ba Sing Se is brilliant, it is horrifying, and it is unlikely to be sanctioned by the Fire Lord. But four years in the army has taught Zuko his place – he is a lieutenant in a council of generals, so he keeps his mouth shut and listens. His dread intensifies, and coalesces into a pit in his stomach as General Ozai outlines a strategy so honorless it defies every single code that Zuko strives to follow. However, all the generals in the council receive the plan with resounding applause, and preparations for the Siege of Ba Sing Se begin at once.

**VII**

An operation this large couldn’t be kept a secret from the Fire Lord for long; after about a month, Zuko and his father receive orders from Fire Lord Azulon to come home at once. It’s the first time Zuko has gone back to the capital since he left; home has changed so much and yet so little at the same time. Azula and Lu Ten have grown; meanwhile, Mother and Uncle look like they’ve hardly been touched by time. The court is unchanged as well — it’s still full of liars and flatterers, only this time, Zuko is aware enough to realise that his father is the biggest liar and flatterer of them all. _We shall conquer Ba Sing Se in your name, honoured Father_ , General Ozai says, kneeling in front of his Fire Lord. The entirety of the Fire Lord’s council bows with him. Grandfather grits his teeth and says _Agni himself would be proud of you, my son_ , because he no longer has a choice.

**VIII**

The biggest difference of all — family dinners are political dinners now, and Zuko has to endure the posturing and paranoia he associated with ambitious officers at the family table. His father comments on Zuko’s lieutenant bars over the lion-shark’s fin soup (and pointedly doesn’t comment on Uncle Iroh’s lack thereof). Mother makes small talk about Lu Ten's education over the braised abalone. Grandfather watches closely as the cuttle-crabs are steamed fresh at the table, and eats nothing that wasn't killed and prepared in front of him. Zuko grits his teeth and focuses on his dinner, both thankful and jealous of how Azula eats her sweet bean dumplings, completely unaware of the tension blanketing the room.

**IX**

They spend a month in the capital — Father uses the time to scheme and plot with the nobles of the court, while Zuko spends as much time as he can with Azula and Lu Ten before he’s deployed. It’s hard, at first; Zuko is awkward, and Azula and Lu Ten were babies when he left. But the two of them — six and eight now — rush out to meet Zuko after breakfast, giggling and excited to show off little flames cupped in little hands. Azula begs for firebending lessons, Lu Ten begs for swordsmanship lessons, and when their friend Mai comes to visit with a holster full of knives and the skill to hit the bullseye from five yards away, they beg for knife lessons too. It’s overwhelming, but in a good way. Zuko tries his best to keep up; lessons in the morning and games in the afternoon. At night, both Azula and Lu Ten sneak into his bedroom, and Zuko just sighs and puts them to sleep with stories about his travels, his missions, his platoon — and when they finally fall asleep, exhausted, he carries them back to bed.

**X**

Before he leaves, Zuko picks up a few gifts. He spends a month's salary on a scroll on the cold fire for Azula and a pair of reliable steel dao for Lu Ten, and he blows the rest of his savings on a commission – three matching knives hilted with abalone shell, with the words " _never give up without a fight_ " engraved along the blade. He gives them the gifts at the harbor just before he sails away, and as he watches the two waving figures fade into the distance, he is struck by the realization that he might never see his sister again. 


	2. Chapter 2

**XI**

General Ozai promotes Zuko as soon as they reach the Earth Kingdom, and gives a laundry list of impossible tasks for the newly-minted Commander Zuko, the most important of which are: secure the supply lines to Ba Sing Se, and to consolidate their hold on the rest of the territories while the main host of the Fire Nation Army besieges the city. _You're the only one I trust to do this, Zuko,_ his father says. _Your trust honors me, Father,_ Zuko replies, like the loyal son that he is, but he doesn't miss the glint of paranoia buried in his father's eyes. 

**XII**

Pohuai Stronghold is Zuko's first priority. Most of the supplies headed to the northern half of the Earth Kingdom goes through the stronghold and the nearby port, so he stations more troops in the area, improves security for ships bringing cargo through the inlet, and visits the stronghold himself, to ensure that it is manned by loyal officers. Unfortunately, the visit goes awry the minute he steps onto base – the Yuyan Archers' commander, Shinu, is violently disciplining a child when he arrives. _He's a deserter, your highness_ , Shinu protests, when Zuko intervenes. _He deliberately missed his target and fled from his own cowardice!_ But Zuko looks at the trembling boy on the ground, and thinks – _he can't be older than Lu Ten._

**XIII**

Apparently, War Minister Qin had given special dispensation for "prodigies" to be recruited below the usual age limit of sixteen. General Ozai's signature is at the bottom of the decree, and Zuko… isn't surprised. Ming – the youngest Yuyan Archer – had been recruited at the age of _six_ , and had been trained to _kill_ since his entry into the army. Ming is eight years old now and he is being beaten by Commander Shinu for disobeying orders to _kill civilians_. Zuko is signing papers to transfer Ming to his unit before he knows it, shaking with rage because when he thinks of prodigies, he thinks of Azula and her flame flickering blue, Lu Ten and his dao, their friends Mai the knife-thrower and Ty Lee the chi-blocker. None of them deserve to have bloodied hands at _eight_ , and Ming is no different.

**XIV**

Zuko travels around the Fire Nation territories, doing his best to maintain law and order in the colonies while most of their army is at Ba Sing Se. It's disheartening to see how much disciplining the officers is involved in this. There are a few attempted rebellions from Earth Kingdom loyalists, but the majority of disturbances are from the Fire Nations troops abusing their power. _They have dishonored you and the Throne, Father_ , he writes, when General Ozai demands an explanation for the disbandment of the Rough Rhinos. They had _burned an entire village full of innocent women and children_ , and if Private Ming hadn't spotted Colonel Mongke standing over a crying boy, flames glowing wickedly in his hands, there might not have been any survivors at all. Father doesn't need to know about the Agni Kai the Colonel had challenged him to; all that matters is that Zuko won, the Rough Rhinos have been dishonorably discharged, the boy Jet is safe, and that Zuko will make damned sure that his army will never behave so cruelly again.

**XV**

His popularity grows, and it bewilders Zuko. He's not doing anything special, he's just doing what's _right_. Anyone would have done it in his place. He spends two years keeping the peace, and the Prince's Platoon gains even more of a reputation as the strongest and most honorable band of Imperial Firebenders. But then, his platoon is summoned to Ba Sing Se, and everything goes to shit.

**XVI**

They're being sent to the front lines, so Zuko quietly makes arrangements with his second-in-command, Lt. Teruko, about the children in their platoon. Ming, their genius archer that most of the company is already calling _Longshot_ , for his unerring aim, isn't the only child soldier Zuko has had to transfer to his unit, and Jet isn't the only Earth Kingdom orphan his platoon has basically adopted. Teruko is the capable, resourceful sort, and she nods. The next day, the children have been housed with good colonial families loyal to him, and he can breathe a bit easier on the way to Ba Sing Se.

**XVII**

His father is not the same man he was the last time they had seen each other. General Ozai was completely undefeated for his entire military career, until he met the walls of Ba Sing Se. Two years of failure have left their marks. Zuko was not prepared to see his father as he was at Ba Sing Se – General Ozai seems composed, but Zuko can see the wildness and paranoia in his father's eyes as clear as day. How hard is it to bring down a wall, General Ozai demands. Months pass and the wall remains unbreached, and his decisions become more and more reckless until he orders that the entirety of the 41st Division be sent on a suicide mission against the wall's earthbenders.

**XVIII**

The 41st is the army's newest division, full of fresh recruits even younger than Zuko since Minister Qin's decree lowering the conscription age to sixteen instead of eighteen. To senselessly sacrifice so much of their country's youth to a plan even _Zuko_ knows won't work… Zuko is standing before he knows it, fist under an open hand and bowing respectfully to his father. _There is no need for this gamble, Father,_ he says. _Allow me to prove myself, and I will breach the walls of Ba Sing Se for you._

**XIX**

Zuko had expected resistance, but not outright hostility. His father sneeringly demands what he, an untested commander kept away from the front lines for his own safety, can do that an entire council of generals couldn't. All eyes in the room are on him now, and Zuko hates that there's a trap in his father's words that he can't figure out, but he tries. He explains that his platoon – _the platoon of prodigies you swiped from my army?_ – has experience in dealing with a variety of Earth Kingdom defensive fortifications – _from all the colonial traitors and Earth Kingdom spies you've recruited?_ – and a small team of powerful soldiers sneaking inside to open the walls from within is the strategy with the highest chance of success.

**XX**

_Do you take your father for a coward?_ General Ozai asks silkily. Zuko's head snaps up because _no Father, of course not._ The other generals in the council immediately erupt into objections. General Ozai raises a hand, and everyone falls silent. _Defying your father and your general – you've grown ambitious, Prince Zuko,_ he says, his calm facade splintering from the fury he must be suppressing. _You've been building a base of power to overthrow me ever since I gave you your own command. You've developed quite a taste for power, haven't you?_ Zuko shakes his head frantically, protests that _I am your loyal son, Father,_ but it's not enough. General Ozai draws himself to his full height, and challenges him to an Agni Kai. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Crew taken from MuffinLance's works, and Yuyan!Longshot taken from EudociaCovert.

**Author's Note:**

> Crossposted from tumblr. Zuko's company taken from Muffinlance's works. I hope you guys enjoy it!


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